• Says that 1.68 million barrels per day of crude oil were produced in September. •Gas output of 7 billion cubic feet per day, the bigge...
.jpg "Ojulari: PENGASSAN-3-day Strike Cost Nigeria 600,000 Barrels of Oil lost")
•Gas output of 7 billion cubic feet per day, the biggest in recent history
• Says the recent oil workers' strike is to blame for the rise in LPG prices
•NNPC raises the price of petrol to N905 because of the union's supply problems
They are Deji Elumoye and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja.
Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), said that the recent strike by Nigeria's oil workers caused the country to lose 200,000 barrels of crude oil every day, for a total of over 600,000 barrels during the three-day supply disruption.
Last month, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) told its members to go on strike after a fight with Dangote Refineries management over the alleged firing of 800 workers.
Following the three-day strike in the oil industry, Ojulari said that the action showed that the NNPC's production ability had been affected. The GCEO told reporters after meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos that the strike was sad and that Nigeria had recently reached a gas level of 7 billion cubic feet (BCF).
"I think it was unfortunate that the dispute between Dangote and Pengasan led to a strike. During strikes, key workers who work in key facilities aren't available, making it hard to get the best work done." In this case, we actually lost a lot of production—more than 200,000 bpd—that was put off.
He also said, "We had gas production put off and power generation that was affected by about 1.2 megawatts of power that was affected by that strike."
However, he was glad that the situation was over because the federal government stepped in at the right time through the Federal Ministry of Labour and the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
"I'm very pleased that the federal government, with the full support of the National Security Adviser and the leadership of the Minister of Labour, was able to bring everyone together for a dialogue and a table meeting. Now there is a communiqué that agrees on the way forward." "We all have high hopes that everyone will follow the communiqué. Since then, we've been able to get production back to normal, though we're still trying to catch up in a few areas." Overall, he said, "we have slowly gone back to make up for lost production and the delay we have now."
In addition, Ojulari said that Nigeria has been able to increase the production of crude oil since last month. He said that in September 2025, 1.68 million barrels of oil and 7 billion cubic feet of gas were created every day.
"Things are going well. You already know that last month we produced 1.68mbpd of oil, which was great. It had been five years since the last one. Our gas production hit a record high of over 7 billion cubic feet per day, which is also the highest level seen in recent years. "We are also expecting that with some Turnaround Maintenance we did in August and September, all of those are meant to come back this month, we are hoping that by the end of the year we should at least be clocking 1.8mbpd," the NNPC CEO said.
His explanation for the current rise in the price of cooking gas was that the recent PENGASSAN strike had made it seem like there wasn't enough. He voiced hope that the price would return to normal soon after the crisis was over.
"The increase you saw was mostly fake because of the strike, movement and loading were slowed down for two to three days. As a result, you saw that effect. As things get back to normal, it can take a while for distribution to fully resume, and because of that delay, some people who already had resources in reserve had to raise the price." "I think prices will go back to what they were before the strike now that things are back to normal," Ojulari said.
When asked why he was going to see the President, Ojulari said it was a normal thing for him to do to keep him up to date on what was going on in the oil industry, especially the job he was given to bring in investors.
"This is a pretty important chance to let the president know about the progress being made at NNPC, especially in terms of production and the steps we are taking to bring in investment."
"As you may remember, the President gave us a clear order to increase production to at least 2 million barrels per day by 2027 and up to 3 million barrels per day by 2030. We were also told to increase gas production." So, how are we doing this year? How are we getting ready for next year to make sure we keep this growth going? "That was one of the things I told the President," the expert said. Also, the NNPC has raised the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which is also known as gasoline, at its retail stores again because of the return of short lines after the PENGASSAN and Dangote elections.
It was learnt that NNPC stations in Abuja, especially in Wuse Zone 6 and Zone 4 areas, had raised their pump prices from N890 to N905 per litre. This is a rise of N15, or 1.7%.
Abubakar Maigandi, President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), said that the recent price increase was due to complications in the supply chain caused by the dispute between Pengasan and the Dangote Refinery.
He said, "It's because of the PENGASSAN strike." "But our members are still selling for between N885 and N895 per litre," the head of IPMAN said.